Appliance for fishing through the ice



Feb- 6, 1923.

L. H ECCLESTON,

APPLI NCE FOR Fl sums THROUGH THE ICE F1 LED APR. 12. 1921 .lllllllllliPatented ch 6, i923.

carves nTr i illi s ears LATI-IAM I-I; nocnnsromor WAKEFIELD,nnonnrsnnrm, .essrenon OFONE-HALF 'ro HowAann. rnnnr, or wannrrnnn,EHODE rsnann.

APPLIANCE FDR FISHING. THROUGH THE ICE.

Application filed April 12, 1921. 7 Serial No. 460,708; I

To (.ZZZQU/l-OT/Z-iiZWR-(d-Z/007108))1-1 Be it known that I, LATHAM H.EooLns- TON, a citizen of the United States, residing 1 at Wakefield, inthe county of Washington and State of Rhode Island, have invented newand useful Improvements in Appliances for Fishing Through the Ice, ofwhich the following isa specification. The invention relates to anappliance fo fishing through 'theice and particularly to that class ofdevices which areequipped with a movable signal which is rel ased anddis played automatically when the fish takes'the bait and pulls on thefishing line;

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, practical andefiicient fishing appliance of this character which will be strong,

durable and comparatively inexpensive in construction and adapted to becompactly folded when not in use and capable of being readily set foruse in a, firm position upon the ice without making holes in the ice foran choring purposes; J l

Another object of the invention is to provide a fishing appliance whichwill lie low upon the ice and the condition of which may be readilyascertained at a glance at adistanceso that will not be necessary for aperson to closely examine the device to ascertain whether or-not thesame-has been spy-1111p ;v i c l t l lVith these and other objects inView, the invention consists in the novel construction, combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter fully described,illustratedin theaccompanying drawing and pointed out in the claims hereto appended, itbeing understood that various changes 'in'the form, proportion and minordetails of construction, within the scope of the claims,may be resortedto'without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of theadvantages of the invention:

In the drawings in which like characters of reference designatecorresponding parts in the several figures:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a fishing appliance constructed in accordancewith this invention and shown folded.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the same, the fishingappliance being set for use.

Figure 3 is a central transverse sectional view of the same.

Figure 4 is a detail transverse sectional view illustrating the mannerof hinging and locking the resilient signal ,carrying arm or member. v.

Figure 5 is adetail view of the stop and hinge element. v p

in the accompanying drawing in which is illustrated thepreferredembodiment of the invention, the fishing appliance comprises inits-construction a'substantially oblong support or-holder 1 constructedof wood or any other suitable material and provided with a centrallongitudinal slot 2 in which operates a reel 3' adapteclto have-afishing line 4: wound upon it and mounted upon a transverse shaft 5,The shaft?) is extended at one end and bent to form a clip 6 foroperating the shaft to wind up the line on the reel. The reel may" beof-any desired construction and it is preferably spaced. from the sidewalls of the slot by suitable washers 7. This reel which is oblong isadapted to be arranged longitudinally-of the slot 2 as clearlyillustrated in Figure '1 of the drawing when it is desired to fold thedevice. Y

The reel is equipped at its centerwith a substantially L-shaped'hook-8having its bill or engaging portion extending downwardlywhen the reel isin an uprightposition as illustrated in FigureQ of the drawings and thesaid hook is adapted to engage an eye 90f a resilient signal carryingarmor mcmber 10 ,Whichismaintained in a bowed or downwardlybent positionwhen the trap is set and which is automatically released when the trapis sprungbya fish taking the bait and pulling on the line. This actioncauses a rotaryzinovement of the reel and carries the L-shaped hookupwardly and per mits the resilient signal carrying. arm to spring outoffengagement withthe hook and assume the upright position shown indotted lines in Figure 2. The resilient arm-or member is designed to beprovided with'a suitable, signal 11 which is preferably in the form of aflag of red or other. color of the form shown, but the size and form ofthe signal may of course be varied as will be readily understood.

The resilient signal-carrying arm which. is shown in the accompanyingdrawing as a fiat spring may be constructed of any other suitablematerial such as wire and it is provided at the end opposite that havingthe eye 9 with laterally extending pintle arms 12 which are bentinwardly to form loops combined or eyes which are linked into eyes 13 ofa combined stop and hinge element constructed of a single piece of wireor other suitable material which is bent at spaced points from thecenter to form an approximately U-shaped loop or stop 14 and the sideportions of the wire or other material are coiled to form the eye orhinge elements 1.3 while the terminals of the wire are passed throughthe support or holder and clinched at the under side thereof. Theresilient signal-carrying arm by being linked into the'eye is hinged atthe inner side of the stop loop 14 and it is adapted to be held firmlyagainst the loop by a catch 15 consisting of a fiat spring secured atone end to the upper face ofthe holder 1' support adjacent to one endthereof and having its other end free and bent downwardly to form a lipor engaging portion 16 which engages over one of the laterally extendingeyes or loops of the resilient signal-carrying arm or mem her. Thespring catch detachably maintains the hinged end of the signalcarryingarm or member in locked position against the stop so that whenthe freeend of the resilient arm is released by a fish pulling upon the'line thesignal will spring upward and maintain an upright position so toindicate that the trap is sprung. When it is desired to fold the fishingappliance the catch 15 is lifted out of engagement with the laterallyextending loop or resilient arm and the latter is swung downwardly andis adapted to lie-fiat against the holder and the reel. 1 is turned tocarry the hook to the bottom of the'h'older and'pr'esent a flat uppersurface to the signal-carrying arm.

The holder isequipped at each'end with a pair offixed and hingedblocksli' and 18. The block 17 at each end of the holder is rigidlysecured to the lower face'of the same and the folding block 18 isconnected to the fixed block 6. A hinge 19 which permits the foldingblock to swing downwardly and outwardly from the dotted line positionshown in Figure '2 to the full line'position and the hinged blocks areprovided with projecting spurs 20 located at the lower faces of thehinged blocks when the latter are swung downwardly and outwardly and tothe inner or upper faces of the block 18 when the same are swungupwardly or folded. These studs areadapted tobe embedded inthe ice andwill hold the appliance firmly in position for use and obviate thenecessity of digging holes into the ice and anchoring the appliance byfastening means which are liable through thawing "at the holesto release the appliance. Also by mounting the reel in a central position inthe manner shown there willbe no'liability of the fishing catch rigidlysecured to the-support or-holder' and arranged to engage the resilientsignalcarrymgarm adjacent to the h nge thereof to form a rigidconnection between the arm and the support or holder and a reel mountedin the support or holder and provided with means for engaging the freeend of the signal-carrying arm, the latter being adapted to be releasedby rotary movement of the reel,

. '2. A fishing appliance of the class dc scribed including support orholder, a reel mounted in the support or holder, a combined hingeelement "and stop provided at opposite sides with eyes, a resilientsignalcarrying arm having laterally projecting loops linked into thesaid eyes, a catch ar-- ranged to engage one of the eyes or loops of thesignal carrying arm for holding the same against the stop and-meanscarried by the reel for maintaining the resilient arniin abowedpositionto set the appliance.

3. A fishing" appliance of the class describedincluding a support orholder P O- vided with fixed blocks-folding blocks provided with spursand hinged to the fined blocks and adapted to swing beneath the same toexpose the spurs and adapted also to swing to a position beneath theholder and in alinement with the fixed blocksto conceal the spurs.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set in hand. r y LATE-AM H.EGCLESTON.

